General Question

glitterrrrfish's avatar

Sneezing?

Asked by glitterrrrfish (222points) August 22nd, 2008 from iPhone

why do people say “bless you” whenever you sneeze? Whats the connection with sneezing and blessing?

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12 Answers

buster's avatar

I tell people the opposite of “bless you” when they sneeze. I say “damn you”
Bless you was said because people thought when you sneezed demons were leaving your body. Bless you started out as a christian reaction to these demons.

TheOnly1WithKFC's avatar

Well.. for starters, whenever you sneeze your heart tends to skip a beat. So, back then they thought that “oh fuck if this guy keeps sneezing his heart is gonna stop forever!” so they came up with a sure-fire way of avoiding that by saying “God Bless you”.

i suppose… i’m pretty sure they have that answer on wikipedia. (search for sneeze)

simone54's avatar

Did you search anything? Because your heart doesn’t really stop when you sneeze.

JackAdams's avatar

I seriously doubt that an atheist would say, “Bless you.”

August 23, 2008, 5:48 AM EDT

simone54's avatar

I purposely say “Bleshu” I wanna be polite but I don’t wanna have make it religious.

gailcalled's avatar

Germans say Gesundheit, which means “health.” I say it, also.

stratman37's avatar

I once told a friend that sneeze can travel up to 100 mph, and he said “I thought it was 1000”! I said “man, you’d blow your head clean off if that were the case!”

JackAdams's avatar

Whenever I sneeze, I try to make it sound like what a peanut farmer might say, when he sneezes.

I say, “CASHEW!”

August 23, 2008, 1:45 PM EDT

stratman37's avatar

I have such forceful sneezes, they make my wife cuss! If she’s lookin’ away and I can’t warn her in time, it scares the water out of her.

JackAdams's avatar

Are you available for kids’ parties?

August 23, 2008, 3:46 PM EDT

stratman37's avatar

I wish! I LOVE scaring people.

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